March 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian steel panel radiators maker Korado [BUL:4KX], part of Czech Korado Group, said on Thursday it plans to distribute a gross dividend of 0.26 levs ($0.143/0.13 euro) per share for 2016, a 44.4% increase over the previous year.
The company will propose to its shareholders to pay out as dividend 2.28 million levs, which represents 78% of its 2016 net profit, Vojtech Chamek, CEO of Korado Group, said at a news conference.
The company distributed as dividend 81% of its 2015 net profit of 1.93 million levs.
Chamek also said that Korado Bulgaria plans to issue preferred shares on the Sofia bourse in order to respond to rising demand for its stock on the market.
The Sofia-listed company is also working towards introducing the payment of interim six-month dividend, however an amendment to Bulgarian legislation needs to be adopted for the change to take place, Chamek said.
The CEO also said that Korado is targeting an increase of its current share of approximately 4% of the Bulgarian market.
The company plans to invest in a paint shop in its factory in Strazhitsa, in central northern Bulgaria.
"We are in the process of deciding on the exact technology of the paint shop, however, along with our investment in energy efficiency measures at the plant, the total investment in 2017 will be at least 1 million levs," Chamek told SeeNews on the sidelines of the news conference.
In 2016, the group added two customers - one in France and another one in Hungary, Chamek said at the news conference. In 2017, the company signed a deal with a client in Chile which will be serviced by Korado Bulgaria.
Korado Group's CEO said that the company would consider attractive acquisition opportunities among other options in order to expand.
Korado Bulgaria's shares traded flat at 6.399 levs as of 14:22 CET on Thursday on the Sofia bourse.
Korado Bulgaria was registered in 1998, when the company acquired 98.2% of the originally German-Bulgarian production plant in Strazhitsa. The plant exports its output to the markets of Romania, Ukraine, France, Hungary and Bosnia.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)